The decision-making process of crime scene investigation: A trace-centric utility-based case study

This case study explores the decision-making processes in crime scene investigations through a trace-centric, utility-based framework. Focusing on a single attempted murder case, the study examines the sequence of events, the involved actors and their actions, the collected and examined objects, the type of traces and their matrices and the traces utility during the investigation and in the judgement. The reasoning at the crime scene for the search, detection, collection and analysis of traces is rarely explicit, and scarcely studied. As initial step in the criminal justice process, it is however of utmost importance for the production of evidence for court. Therefore, the aim is to understand how decisions are made at the crime scene determining which factors are involved in the decision to attend the scene, to collect and process traces through the analysis of the sequence of events of an attempted murder, using the collected and coded data. Particular focus is set on the involved investigative actors, the collected objects, traces and their utility. We then assess the interest of a trace-centric utility-based approach, in comparison with other forensic science contribution metrics, the actors' separation of responsibilities and duties - and the importance of extending the area of research, not only to the primary crime-scene.